The 2010 edition of the Hip Hop World Awards took place on Saturday the 29th of May at Eko Hotel, Lagos. African time was at its best as the event started over 3 hours later than had been earlier scheduled. However, guests were kept entertained as various celebrities and industry folk graced the ‘yellow’ carpet wearing a mix of stunningly fab and on the other end of the spectrum, amazingly garish outfits.

Nigerian talent was on obvious display throughout the night with mind blowing performances from Goldie who delivered a sexy performance, Obiwon who channeled MJ in his dance-heavy performance, Ark-quake caused a sensation by delivering an amplified Alanta performance – you had to experience it to understand. D’Prince transformed the stage into a boudoir with vixens writhing around the stage while the night’s big winner Wande Coal showed us that “Orobo Toh Bad” by having a very acrobatic plus-sized dancer on stage. However the nights most welcomed performance came from the artists including General Pype who performed tributes to dearly departed, Da Grin. It really got very emotional when Da Grin won the best rap album award and his father accepted his award on his behalf. The father received a standing ovation as he mounted the stage and gave a short speech.

Wande Coal and Mo’Hits were the biggest winners of the night, with Wande walking away with 5 awards and Don Jazzy won the Producer of the Year award.

Duo, Skuki were the surprise winners of the keenly contested, Next Rated Category.

Though we wish the Nigerian factor of technical issues and late starts do not happen next year, overall the night was successful for Nigerian talent and the Hip Hop World organisers.

The Night’s Big Winners were:

ALBUM OF THE YEAR Best album (solo or group) in year under review, that meets judges’ requirements of excellence (in every realms: songwriting, production, rendition and promotion) and acceptability (sales, popularity) MUSHIN 2 MO’HITS Artiste: WANDE COAL Producer(s): Don Jazzy Record Label: Mo’Hits Records

ARTISTE OF THE YEAR Most critically and commercially adjudged artiste in the year under review Overall most successful artiste for the year under review WANDE COAL Real Name(s): OJOSHIPE WANDE JNR. Album Title: Mushin 2 Mo’Hits Record Label: Mo’Hits Records

SONG OF THE YEAR Most popular song from an album in year under review. Decided by voting “YORI YORI” Artiste: BRACKET Album: Least Expected Producer: Dekumzy Record Label Ape Planet

RECORDING OF THE YEAR Best single recording (on-air only or released) by artiste or group in year under review. Originality and production very essential “HEAVEN PLEASE” Album – TIMI (Unreleased) Artiste – Timi Dakolo Producer – Cobhams Asuquo Record Label – (Unreleased)

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR The individual responsible for producing the most acclaimed songs/album in the year under review. His CV for the year includes top notch tracks and production credits no one can fault. DON JAZZY Album/Song Title – “Banana”, “U Bad” Artiste(s) – Wande Coal

BEST MUSIC VIDEO (AWARD GOES TO DIRECTOR) Best conceptualised, best edited, best picture, best directed and most exciting video in year under review as voted by fans and decided by the jury. CLARENCE PETERS Music Video Title – “Finest” Artiste – Knight House Ft. Sauce Kid & Teeto

BEST R ‘N’ B SINGLE Best R&B single in year under review (by single individual or group) “STRONG TING” Artiste(s) – Banky W Producer – Cobhams Asuquo

BEST POP SINGLE Best pop single in year under review (by single individual U BAD” Artiste(s) – Wande Coal Producer – Don Jazzy

BEST R ‘N’ B/ POP ALBUM Best R&B or pop album in year under review (by single individual or group) MUSHIN 2 MO’HITS Artiste- Wande Coal Producer(s) – Don Jazzy Record Label- Mo Hits Records

BEST RAP ALBUM Best album by a rap artiste or group in year under review CEO Artiste – Dagrin Producer(s) – Sossick, T-Frizzle, Dokta Frabz, Sarz Record Label – Missofunyin Entertainment

LYRICIST ON THE ROLL Rap Artiste with best lyrical depth and performance on a single song or album MODENINE Song Title – Bad Man Album Title – Da Vinci Mode (Not released in year under review) Record Label – Red Eye Music

Umm…is it me,or does Modenine take the award for ‘lyricist on the roll’ every year?I mean,did he even have any song/album out in the year under review? If I didn’t know better,I’d say it some kinda deal wv the HHWA organizers to keep his name relevant.Just saying….

I knw most of the songs….now that is a big achievement for me:O) Please can u label the pix a s some of us don’t knw all the people…thx And I wished they’d not put together the best pop/RnB album award. There should have been one for each as wande coal is not really pop….and people like Banky and dare and a lot more are pure RnB

Apparently Orobo toh bad did the splits…..oh my frigging Gosh..t Anyways SKUKI as in ma yin e ni banga is that even a song?!?!?!?! does it make sense? i will throw them banger out of that place…RUBBISH! do we need to define music to some of these producers? na wa

I wonder why MTN wastes money sponsoring this crap? Ayo just cooks up silly award winners list and expects an idiotic public to just accept it. What the heck is the meaning of ‘voted by fans and decided by the jury’? If Da Vinci code was not released in the year under review, why nominate mode 9 for the award? How senseless is that? Wande Coal, R n B/Pop? Whoever came up with this lists must be high on 2 day old feremented urine. Why can’t we do things thorougly and devoid of mediocrity?Don’t get me started on that Skuki – Banger joke. When MTN stops sponsoring crap like these, hip hop heads would start complaining that companies are not supporting the entertainment biz.

whats this crap about modenine taking lyricist of the year?…….what happened to MI… this awards is just crap….mode9 didnt even release an album in the year under review…. i tink its all a grand conspiracy and utter crap…… and MI is still the best!